Beginners' Guide to OpenWrt

OpenWrt is a very powerful, highly customizable Linux distribution that you can install on your router. The options can be a little overwhelming at first.

There is an endless list of hardware choices provided by a wide array of different manufacturers. Individual manufacturers build and sell a huge variety of different models which themselves come in multiple hardware configurations or hardware revisions.

OpenWrt provides a multitude of different pre-built firmware options as well as the opportunity to custom design and build your own specific firmware.

There are also several different ways to install OpenWrt using different physical interfaces between your computer and router and different communication protocols depending on the software you use to install your firmware.

Note: Employing OpenWrt can result in a very uneventful and stable software experience. Known vulnerabilities are being constantly patched away, so that, when millions of routers are hit by yet another security hole again and again, OpenWrt users sit idly by and miss all the "fun". This seems to be so well understood by the press, that OpenWrt is not even mentioned any longer as a safer alternative.